Family man

John Becanic is never at a loss for words.

The Everett Silvertips’ new head coach is a gregarious guy. Stop by and ask him one simple question and before you know it, 15 minutes have flown by. The running joke among the print media following Becanic’s hiring during the off season was that we were going to have to cut him off during postgame interviews in order to make deadline.

Yes, Becanic enjoys his words.

But there’s one word that seems to be at the forefront of Becanic’s lexicon, one word that emanates from his lips more often than any other:

Family.

Becanic is a family man in every respect of the word, and his goal as Everett’s new head coach has been to bring that sense of family to the Silvertips.

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‘What would my dad say’

Becanic sits at his desk in the Silvertips’ lockerroom at Comcast Arena. He’s in full conversation mode, perched at the front edge of his chair and eagerly telling his story, the anecdotes coming fast and furious.

Becanic is recounting the journey that led him to cecome the head coach of the Silvertips. Throughout the tale his family enters the plot at nearly every twist, his eyes welling up with emotion every time they are mentioned.

And why not? Becanic’s family has been at the forefront of every hockey decision he’s ever made.

His family has influenced his career.

Becanic’s father, John Sr., was a longtime midget and junior coach himself in their hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, even spending par t of the 1982-83 season as the head coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires. It was largely through his father’s influence that Becanic went into coaching himself, eventually finding himself a part-time assistant for OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds when they won the Memorial Cup in 1993.

But his father’s influence goes far beyond coaching.

“From this day I’ve lived with the fear of disappointing my father,” Becanic said. “Every decision I make I think, ‘What would my dad say?’ It’s amazing how often you make the right life choices when you have that fear, not the fear of being scolded.”

According to John Sr., Becanic is accomplishing that mission.

“I’m very proud of John,” John Sr. said. “He’s given up a lot in life to get to the point where he is now. I’d like to feel I was instrumental in getting him involved, but he’s surpassed anything I’ve achieved.”

A good support system

Becanic’s family has sacrificed for his career.

Becanic’s wife, Rhonda, and daughters Sheridan and Brooklyn uprooted themselves in 1997 — his daughters were 212 and 112 at the time — when Becanic left the security of his firefighting job in Sault Ste. Marie to pursue his coaching dreams in North Dakota, becoming the head coach and general manager of the American West Hockey League’s Bismarck Bobcats.

Then again in 2001 when, after being fired by Bismarck, Becanic joined a stranger named Kevin Constantine with the North American Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Forge.

And finally in 2003 when Becanic followed Constantine to Everett, turning down a chance to be the head coach at NCAA Division I Robert Morris to be an assistant with the Silvertips.

Why tolerate such upheavel?

“John’s always been a pretty sensitive guy,” Rhonda Bentson Becanic explained. “He does things that far exceed your expectations. He still does special things for myself and our children. His basic foundation is built on how he wants people to treat him, that’s how he treats others. That’s what I like about him.”

Becanic then flips the script.

“I truly believe if you don’t have a good support system with your wife and family, you’re never going to be a good coach,” he said. “They sacrifice so much, they pick up the pieces when you’re not there to do it, even though they’ve had to endure hardships. I’ve tried to let my wife know as much as possible I woudn’t be where I am today without her.”

Is it any wonder that Becanic wants to bring this same sense of family to his players?

The quiet coach

Want to know how Becanic has changed the atmosphere around the team this year? Just ask any returning player. The first thing out of their mouths is almost always the same.

“There’s a lot less yelling,” left wing Brennan Sonne said with a smirk. “I haven’t been yelled at this year.”

Constantine was a strict taskmaster. When a player did something wrong, Constantine made sure he knew it. That style was instrumental in getting the best out of the players, particularly during the inaugural season when Constantine took an expansion team all the way to the WHL finals.

But if Constantine was like a drill sergeant, Becanic — keeping with his family theme — is more like a parent. He treats his players with respect, then demands respect in return.

“He’s a lot more calm and he knows how to get in your head and make you do the right things without really getting in your face,” said defenseman Graham Potuer, who would know, considering Becanic was his position coach the past three years. “I think it’s going to work for a lot of the guys. Some guys like (Constantine’s) style, some guys like this style. But I think it’s going to work a lot better for a lot of the newer guys.”

Becanic isn’t just trying to create a family atmosphere for its own sake. He truly believes it’s the best way to get the most out of the players.

“I want to be the first person everyone thinks of when their times are down, that they think Coach B can help them out of that rut,” Becanic said. “That’s not just this year, that’s 10 years from now when they’re raising their children or whatever. If you get that feeling from them, the sky’s the limit of what they’ll do for you.”

So the atmosphere is an about face from the previous four years. Odd considering Becanic was a main cog as an assistant during those four seasons.

But even though Constantine and Becanic have their differences in the way they approach coaching, they still had great chemistry during their six years together, helping both the Forge and the Silvertips experience large doses of success.

“I think it worked really well because Kevin allowed me to be that person,” Becanic explained. “Kevin never asked me not to be who I am, never once. Kevin’s a smart enough guy to know the strengths of people, so he utilizes those strengths. It’s why I dealt with most of the discipline and off-ice issues. He knew I could relate to that.”

Now Becanic is stepping out of Constantine’s shadow and into the spotlight. He has a tough act to follow. During Constantine’s four seasons the Tips won three U.S. Division titles, a Western Conference title and a Scotty Munro Trophy for the league’s best regular-season record.

But with his family around him — both personal and professional — Becanic is determined to keep Everett right on course.